(WSVN) - The Redlands area in South Miami-Dade is known for its lush farmland, but some residents are angry because, they say, big rig trucks have moved in, “Disturbing the Peace.” 7’s Gina Benitez explains.
Acres of crops, grazing livestock and workers in the fields. Life is good in the Redlands.
Resident 1: “It’s quiet. Living here, it’s like living in paradise.”
But next to the acres of green, residents say, something else has cropped up.
Resident 1: “Some of these landowners, they started filling up their nurseries with trucks, big rigs.”
Parked behind locked fences on two different Redlands properties are dozens of tractor-trailers.
Resident 2: “They shouldn’t be here, they really shouldn’t. There’s industrial areas that should be used for this purpose, and it’s just not right.”
7News drone footage shows some 50 trucks and trailers parked in neat rows on each property late last year.
Resident 1: “One of the sites started with just about five rigs. They filled up the place, another one started, and word is that they make a lot of money on this.”
These residents first complained to Miami-Dade County Code Enforcement last October, concerned that the property owners were illegally parking the big rigs and polluting the land.
Resident 3: “They need to be inspected and make sure there’s no oil content that’s put on our agricultural land, ’cause it percolates back into the land and may affect the adjoining property owners with their drinking water, because most of us out here, all of us, really, we have our own wells, so that’s a critical issue.”
The county says it sent inspectors to both properties and did find violations. A lot on Southwest 220th Street was cited for “illegal storage of commercial vehicles,” and a lien of over $10,000 is to be placed on the property.
Resident 4: “It’s just a bad situation that needs to be corrected.”
But while we were there, a big rig pulled in to park. joining the dozens already there.
Resident 5: “I’m just totally appalled that that could exist in an agricultural district.”
A property on Southwest 224th Street is also being cited for two illegally parked RVs, but that’s all.
The county report found that the dozens of big rig trucks parked there are “owned by the property owner” and are used to support the plant nursery in the corner of the lot.
But that nursery is small, and residents are skeptical.
Resident 1: “There’s nurseries that have been around the Redlands for years, and they only have three or four rigs at a time transporting plants, so something doesn’t seem right.”
Residents say they hope the county continues to keep an eye on both properties. They want the big rigs to go away and for the acres of farmland they love to go green again.
7News reached out to both property owners. One refused our request to comment on camera. The other didn’t return our calls.
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